Fake Out.

Chapter 1.

1480 words.
TW: mentions of S/H & abuse.
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Amber 

      She had been walking home from school one day, thinking about how to make her short, dirty blonde hair grow faster, when she spotted a bright pink flier, practically glowing against the brown electric pole. As she got closer, she could see 'PHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER CAMP' in big, bold letters. Under that, in smaller print, it said, 'This summer camp is entirely free! Children ages 14+ can attend without a parent, here they will learn how to properly photograph things in nature and how to develop things in our state-of-the-art black rooms! Just take a ticket and call the number to sign up!' There was only one ticket left, the others appeared to have already been ripped off. The idea of going somewhere no one knew her before and learning more about something she loved made her want, no, need, to meet the other kids going, so she ripped off the last ticket and rushed home.
    She didn't notice the person watching her or how it took the pink flier down after she ran past. As soon as she got home, Amber asked her parents if she could go, "May I go to this summer camp? All you have to do is call the number and reserve a spot." Amber asked, and her parents, who were already worried about their child's ability to make real-life connections, said yes.

Ajay

Ajay was wading in the big pond by the freeway with his sister, Andrea, trying not to trip over the junk that coated the bottom. He was just looking at her, seeing all the ways they looked the same, they were twins, after all. She had the same tan skin and the same black hair, but hers was so much longer, he was taller by a bit, though. "Andrea," he called, " are you sure you're not going to wear sandals?" He was asking this because most of the trash was sharp stuff, like used needles and broken glass. She responded with, "If I get hurt, it's on my own terms, and I can't swim with those things on, you know that." She was wearing one of Mom's old sports bras and some shorts, he was just wearing some old basketball shorts. Well, all of his shorts were pretty old. They had been walking around town, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their summer.
They were only two weeks into the summer, and suddenly an idea hit him. It literally hit him—a pink, balled-up flier advertising a free summer camp. It said all they had to do was call ahead, and it said they'd get picked up by a bus tomorrow. "Andrea, do you want to go?" he called to his sister, who had made her way to the middle of the pond. "Where?" She called back. "Some free summer camp," he answered, "for sh*ts and giggles?" she called. "Sure," he shouted back, she was making her way to the other side of the pond. "You think Mom will say no?" He asked, "Of course not! She won't have to spend extra money on us, it's a no-brainer."  Andrea shouted back, she was swimming back to Ajay and was nearly in wading distance. "Well, come on then, you gremlin!" Ajay waded back to the edge of the pond and got out, with Andrea not far behind. Together, they walked home, sopping wet.

Elijah "Ellie"

Elijah was walking home after basketball practice. Even though they hated basketball, they wanted to make their parents happy, so they did it for them. They looked up and saw a pink flier taped to a window in a shop, 'FREE ART CAMP'. They looked at it and decided that they could ask their parents to sign them up and say it was a basketball camp or whatever. They took a ticket for the phone number on the pink flier and started to jog to their house. They asked their parents to sign them up for it, and their parents, being obsessed with them playing basketball (as they would with any of the other sports they made Elijah play), signed them up. Elijah was smart enough not to say that it was really for art camp.

Mae

Mae had had enough of the screaming and fighting, so she went to her room and simply hopped out of the window, which was on the first floor; it wasn't like anyone would notice her absence. She had done that so many times that it was a surprise when she stumbled and fell. She got up and brushed off her shirt, which left a few specks of bright red, along with the blood came a stinging sensation. 'Damn', she thought, not because of the pain but because of the spots of blood on her shirt,  'Mother's going to be p*ssed.'  She couldn't bring herself to care at the moment, so she continued on her impromptu walk.
    She was on her way to the convenience store she usually visited when certain people started throwing things. When a bright pink flier caught her attention, it was an advert for a summer camp that had an activity for aspiring beauticians. 'Like me', she thought. She knew her parents would let her go, they always wanted her out of the house. She pulled down the flier and turned around to head back to her house.

Cameron

    She had just taken her shoes off after coming inside when her dad called her, "Cameron!" She found him in the kitchen. "Yeah, Dad?" she asked, putting up her dark brown hair. "Y'know, I love you, and I would—" he began, but Cameron cut him off, looking him in the eye, both of them the same dark shade of green. "What have you signed me up for now?" He chuckled. "You got me there, I thought it might be good for you to meet new people, so I signed you up for this summer camp." She plopped down on one of the stools at the kitchen island and said," I'm fine with that, I guess." Her dad looked a bit surprised by that, saying, "Huh, I thought you'd fight me tooth and nail." He joked, and she laughed. "No, I think I need a change; this could be good for me."

    Leroy

    He had been laying on his bed, in his pajamas, petting his old cat, Draco. The only reason he was able to do this was because both his mother and father were out of town; they would have never let him stay in his pajamas after eight o'clock; it was well past ten. He was relishing that break from all his extracurriculars, thinking about when to wash his bleach blond hair, when his phone gave a 'Ping!' It was Ajay, and oh, how he loved— ENJOYED, enjoyed—being near that boy. The text read, ' Andrea and I are going to this summer camp, u in?' an excuse to live in such close quarters with his, uh, best friend, and Andrea, who was also one of his best friends? He was in.
    Leroy texted back, 'Of course, man, I'll have to ask my parents first, and find a pet sitter for Draco.'
He texted his father, asking him to go and highlighting the importance of meeting new people of different backgrounds, and he said yes. Leroy was excited about the best summer of his life.

Bianca "Bee"

    She had been in the bathroom, crying, while bandaging the newest cuts on her arms, when her mother knocked on the door. "Bee?" She had asked, "Yes, Mum?" Bee had called back. "Me and Dad were talking; you've always loved being outside, would you go to this summer camp?" she then added, "Jamie's going." Jamie was Bee's best friend, they had known each other since first grade. If Jamie was going, so was Bee. "Of course, Mum, just give me a sec, I'm doing my hair." She would have to style her dirty blonde hair afterward, maybe re-dyeing the tips pink. Her blue eyes filled with tears, she thrust her arm under the stream of water, steeling her face at the sting, staining the water red.
   
    Finn
   
    She was laying under a tree in a park, yanking at her ginger hair, trying to think of somewhere she could score some grub, and not being able to come up with anything. When she saw a balled-up pink flier, out of boredom, she uncrumpled it. It was an advert for a free summer camp. 'Aw yeah,' she had thought, 'free food AND housing, a win-win' she dragged herself to her feet and started walking to the bus stop the flier said to go to, she was going to try to find a place to sleep by it.